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Row rice gaining interest in northeast La

Row rice gaining interest in northeast La. Writer: Bruce Schultz at 337-788-8821 bschultz@agcenter.lsu.edu(02/19/19) RAYVILLE, La. — Rice farmers in northeast Louisiana heard advice from LSU AgCenter scientists about growing their 2019 crop at a meeting in Rayville on Feb. 14. They also heard some potentially good news from the president of USA Rice about possible rice sales to China. AgCenter rice specialist Dustin Harrell said farmers who used Provisia herbicide last year were pleased with their first-crop yields and its ability to control red rice that had become herbicide-resistant. Row rice is becoming more popular with more than 100,000 acres in Arkansas and about 5,000 acres in northeast Louisiana last year and the expectation that the practice will be more widespread this year. Farmer Elliot Colvin, of Richland Parish, said it was his first year to grow a crop using the row rice method, and he was surprised how easy it was. “I was thoroughly impressed,” he said. Colvin said it’s best to flush a field after it’s planted to see if the water is flowing as expected before the rice is growing. AgCenter agent Keith Collins conducted a row rice study using Colvin’s field, a field in Morehouse Parish and a third in Tensas Parish. The method can save water, he said. Collins said the VandeVen farm field in Tensas Parish used 169 pounds of nitrogen per acre, and it yielded 239 bushels, or 66 barrels, of rice per acre. Colvin used 214 pounds of nitrogen per acre with a yield of 235 bushels or 65 barrels of rice per acre. At Jason Waller’s farm in Morehouse Parish, a total of 231 pounds of nitrogen was used, and the yield was 216 bushels or 60 barrels of rice per acre. All three fields were planted with hybrid rice. Colvin said areas of a field where an airplane-applied fertilizer overlapped had bad disease problems and plants falling over. “Definitely, I’ll be going down on my nitrogen,” Colvin said. He said he probably will use no more than 170 to 180 pounds per acre this year. AgCenter plant pathologist Don Groth said the sheath blight disease that has become resistant to strobilurin fungicide has continued its spread and has been found in Mississippi. A new fungicide, Amistar Top, was not as effective as hoped last year, he said. Many farmers use too much nitrogen with the expectation of higher yields, but those yield increases can come with a penalty. “The more nitrogen you have out there, the more disease,” he said. Farmers with sandy soil should be vigilant about maintaining a flood to prevent blast disease, he said. Groth said two lines of Clearfield rice grown in Puerto Rico were being harvested by AgCenter rice breeder Adam Famoso, who will plant the seed in foundation fields this spring at the LSU AgCenter H. Rouse Caffey Rice Research Station. Groth said both lines have better yield potential than the variety CL153. Groth also said a new Provisia line harvested in Puerto Rico out-yields the current Provisia, PVL01, by 10 percent. A new conventional long-grain line is under development with yields 8 to 10 percent better than the Cheniere variety. Ben McKnight, AgCenter research associate for weed science, said fields that will be planted with Provisia rice should be clean in preparation for planting by controlling weeds with a mixture of Command and Sharpen, Prowl or RiceOne herbicides. That application will enable Provisia to be more effective on red rice, he said. Permit can be mixed with Provisia, but farmers should avoid mixing Provisia with propanil, Grandstand, Grasp or Regiment, he said. Rice at the one-to-three-leaf stage can be killed by Provisia. AgCenter entomologist Sebe Brown said Fortenza seed treatment used with CruiserMaxx is comparable to Dermacor as a seed treatment for rice water weevils. But it’s likely that Fortenza is toxic on crawfish. The new insecticide Tenchu is effective on stink bugs, but it may be too cost prohibitive to use in certain situations where a pyrethroid is a more economical option. Brown reminded farmers that acephate cannot legally be used on rice to control stink bugs. Betsy Ward, USA Rice president, said hopes are high that China will follow through on the potential purchase of American rice. She said China has approved seven facilities in the U.S. to handle rice, and U.S. trade officials are in China now to work on trade issues. “They feel like they’re going to throw us a bone and buy some rice,” she said. Ward said the new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico doesn’t change the U.S. rice trade with those two countries. But Mexico isn’t buying as much American rice. Mexico, the No. 1 U.S. rice customer, had been buying 95 percent of its rice from the U.S., but now that’s dropped to 75 percent. “Just the rhetoric has hurt our sales there. The Mexicans have started looking at other suppliers because they don’t know what’s going to happen,” Ward said. Most of the U.S. rice sold to Europe goes to the United Kingdom, she said, so Brexit could actually help the U.S. sell more rice there because England would not be under the trade restrictions of the European Union. Michael Klein, USA Rice vice president for marketing and communications, reviewed two promotion projects. The USA Rice “Ride with Rice Tour” covered 5,000 miles in nine states. He said 3,000 rice cookers were given away on the tour that started in Crowley, Louisiana, and ended in San Diego, California. The Louisiana Rice Promotion Board and the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry used a billboard and radio spots to promote rice in September. Ben Mosely, USA Rice vice president of government affairs, said crop insurance for row rice could be available in 2021, and alternate wetting and drying could be insurable by next year. Rogers Leonard, AgCenter associate vice president, said the Louisiana Rice Research Board used $1 million from a free-trade agreement with Colombia to fund an academic chair aimed at rice research. Interest from the fund will be used in perpetuity for research only, and the board hopes to increase the funding later. “Those funds will never go away,” he said. The chair is a novel approach to funding research. “Sugarcane is trying to do the same thing, as well as some other commodities,” he said. Leonard said the Louisiana Rice Research Board has funded two major rice research projects in northeast Louisiana, and a research entomologist and a soil fertility specialist will be hired at the LSU AgCenter Tom Scott Research and Extension Center at Winnsboro. “There is considerable activity for rice research in this region,” he said.